County moves forward on new forensics center plan

By Mike Morris |
January 10, 2012

Harris County will begin building a cutting-edge forensics tower in two years, allowing its scientists to conduct autopsies and test evidence in a growing number of cases.

Commissioners Court on Tuesday gave staff the go-ahead to finalize a land deal with the Texas Medical Center that would give the county 2.79 acres at the northeast corner of Old Spanish Trail and Bertner.

The deal would require construction to begin on the new nine-story Institute of Forensic Sciences facility within two years; Art Storey, the county's director of public infrastructure, said he plans to start in December 2013.

"Harris County is running out of its own capacity," said District Attorney Pat Lykos. who urged the court to move forward. "It's absolutely essential to the administration of justice that Commissioners Court did what they did today," the district attorney declared.

The agreement comes amid much talk of the future of forensic testing in the region. County officials long have discussed testing city of Houston samples at the new facility.

County officials on Tuesday said they hope the city eventually will join them, though all stressed the county lab must expand to meet growing demand, regardless of the city's plan.

"There's been this discussion of yet another regional crime lab, and we already have the capability of doing that," County Judge Ed Emmett said.

The city has struggled with its crime lab since 2002, when an audit noted unqualified personnel, lax protocols and shoddy facilities. HPD said last month its backlog of untested rape kits could be as high as 7,000.

More staff, equipment

To date, six Houston men have left prison after retesting of evidence showed they had been convicted of crimes that they did not commit.

"As Mayor Parker stated in her inaugural address, her goal is to create an independent crime lab that can handle all of the city's forensic needs," said Parker spokeswoman Jessica Michan. "We'll continue our dialogue with Harris County to, hopefully, achieve that goal together."

The county's new facility will handle autopsies and evidence testing. A separate county facility for DNA testing is expected to open elsewhere in the Medical Center, at 2450 Holcombe, this year.

The institute will add staff and equipment and introduce expanded services at the new OST tower, said its director of operations Mary Daniels, including additional ballistics work and latent fingerprint testing.

The current Institute of Forensic Sciences is 68,000 square feet, said John Blount, the county's director of Architecture and Engineering.

The first phase of the new tower could be built out to about 280,000 square feet, he said, with a second tower after that.

The land deal being finalized would see the county swap its current plot of about 1.8 acres at 1885 Old Spanish Trail for a property of equal size across the street. The Medical Center also would lease an adjacent acre to the county at $1 a year for 198 years.

Construction of the new tower will be helped by $80 million in bonds that the voters approved in 2007 for that purpose; Storey said he hopes to keep the price tag within that amount, but noted there are no final designs.